About Me

When not nosing, tasting, drinking and reading about malt whisky, I own one of Israel's premiere boutique coaching practices, specializing in small businesses and executive teams.
Trained in the law, I was an international law attorney and took part in Israel's peace negotiations with the Palestinians, as well as representing my country at the UN for parts of the negotiations on the implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Later I was appointed to the military bench.
My favorite thing, other than whisky, is teaching.
You can contact me through the social media buttons above or by email: michael(at)maltandoak.com, replacing the (at) with an @.

Statement of Integrity and Guidelines

Malt and Oak is an independent whisky blog, offering my own views, opinions and news from the world of malt whisky.
These are my guidelines:

1. All whisky reviews published are of whiskies I have personally tasted and noted. Guest bloggers only write about their own personal tastings.

2. With the exception of official whisky samples, I accept no consideration whatsoever from any distillery, bottler, distributor, drink company or store for my opinions.

3. I maintain strict impartiality and objectivity in tasting all whiskies, not least when tasting official samples. Any review of official whisky samples sent to me will be so noted in the post.

4. I will accept invitations to tastings, events and official visits, and full disclosure will be made on any tasting notes and articles resulting from these events or visits.

5. Any sample received over 30 ml in volume is shared with fellow whisky bloggers. In any event, no sample larger than 100 ml will be accepted.

6. No advertisements promoting specific brands will be accepted.

7. I will answer any inquiry by my readers as quickly and as fully as possible.

8. Should I give a link purchase the reviewed whisky, it will be given free of any commercial interest. The link given will always point to cheapest selling price I found on the web. No commission is paid, nor any other consideration given, for such link.

9. As of July 2017, I serve as Douglas Laing’s Israel brand ambassasdor. As such, I will obviously not be posting reviews of Douglas Laing products.

If Ardbeg Would Release a 21 Year Old – Would it be Like This?

As day 3 of the Whisky Show was drawing to an end, I stopped by the Douglas Laing stand do say goodbye to Cara and Chris. Cara took my glass, and poured a straw colored dram into the glass, handing it back.

One sniff made it clear – this is an Ardbeg. Like the 10, it came from a clean bourbon cask. But deeper…much deeper than the 10, though unmistakably Ardbeg. I never had an Ardbeg 17, but this is sort of what I imagined.

This was a dream dram, requiring a token during the show.

Photo Credit: masterofmalt.com

Douglas Laing Old Particular Ardbeg 21 (48.6% ABV, NCF, NC)

Appearance: Light straw, quick legs with lots of residue droplets.

Nose: Light peat, some mineral notes, but pretty soft compared to the 10, vanilla, the dram smells very creamy with notes of powdered doughnuts.

Palate: You get the honey just before the peat comes in. As the whisky gets to the back of the mouth you get a fresh spray of lemon with some pepper in a full bodied delivery.

Linger: Sweet peat in the mouth and peppery spice in the throat, with a small note of lemon.

Conclusion

Balanced and full bodied, this is a very creamy dram. Very much an Ardbeg, with the 10’s DNA, only on steriods.

This is exactly what I would expect from an official Ardbeg 21 year old release!